Skip hoist



Aug. 16, 1932. p, REED 1,871,559

SKIP HOIST Filed Sept. 27, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jhdentgn .PercidaZK.Reed P. K. REED SKIP HOIST Aug. 16, 1932.

Filed Sept. 27, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Int) erzZo r. .PercirJaZJf-Re w- TI/l/ flitorney,

P. K. REED Aug. 16, 1932.

SKIP HOIST Filed Sept. 27, 1929 4 Sheets-5heet 5 Aug. 16, 1932. REED fLE Z LSSQ SKIP HOIST Filed Sept. 27, 1929 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Indenior:fercwaljiffleed;

Patented Aug. 16, 1932 tenses PERCIVALK. REED, or LLANERCH, ramwsyavanm,AssIGuoR To Arms conveyor.

COMPANY, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A oonro'nar'ron or PENNSYL-VAN-IA SKIP HOIST Application filed September 27, 1929. Serial No.395,493.

y invention relates to skip hoists, and it relates more particularly'toimprovedineans for feeding material from the hopper to the callystoppedwh'en a predetermined weight of the material has beende'liveredto the bucket. l v v k A further object of my invention is to provideapparatus of the character-aforesaid, which is so constructed andarranged that V possibility of spilling of the material a-t the bottomof the hoist will be reduced to a minimum, c p l A further ObJGCt of my1nvent1on is to pro- .-ide apparatus o f'the character aforesaid,

which is so constructed and arranged that the control switch for theoperation of the b tmay be readily actuated whenapr'e- 2e weight of thematerial has been delivered "to the bucket.

' 45. further object of my invention is to provide apparatus of thecharacter aforesaid, which is so constructed and arranged that pe eclosing of the gate will be in sured whenever the bucket starts on itsupward travel from its loading position at the 7 bottom 'of-the hoist.

A further object of my invention is to provide apparatus ofthe characteraforesaid, w ich is'so constructed and arranged that poss l lit-y ofsmashes, due toim'proper on of the bucket, will be eliminated.

hoist. of novel mechanism for opening and v which' controls the deliveryof the mater al from the hopper to the bucket. i Q Y The nature andcharacteristic features of my invention will be more readily understoodforming. part hereof, in which spirit of my invention. ghe foregoingobJects in view, any in relation contemplates the provision, in a skipFigure 1 is a side elevation of the lower portion of a skip hoist,showing mechanism embodying the mainfeatures of my present invention,the bucket being shown in the loading position, and certain of thestructural supporting members being shown in section and othersbeing-omitted for clearness of illustration. I

Fig. 2 is a vetric'al, central, sectional View of the structure shown inFig. 1; Y

Fig. 3 is arear elevation of the lower or gate portion of the hopper andthe parts associated therewith;

Fig. 41 is a plan view of that portion of the mechanism which isadaptedto control the closing of the gate when a predetermined amount ofthe material has been delivered to the bucket;

Fig. 6 is anenla'rged detail view of the I latch mechanism;

Fig. 7 is an underneath plan view thereof; Fig. 8 1s an enlargedsectional detail View showing a device for limiting the movement of thegate structure at the closed position,

the section being taken on the line 8+8 of F ig; 5;; and z g I Fig; 9 isa view of a modified form of the latch mechanism. V .7 It will, ofcourse, be understood thatthe drawings and description herein containedare illustrative merely, and that various modifications and changesmaybe made in shown, 1'0 is the skip hoist bucket, which may be of anypreferred shape. The bucket-"l0 is guided in its movement by wheels 11,

- mounted'upon an axle 12, which is secured to therear wall of thebucket near the top thereof. Another pair of wheels: 14 is; mounted uponan axle-15, secured to the under side of the bucket.- v

A bail structure 16 is pivotallyfconnected,

the structure without depart'ing from the I as at 17, to the side wallsof the bucket. A11

extend upwardly in any desired direction,

according to the requirements of the particular hoist, the lowerportions thereof serving to guide the bucket to the proper loadingposition.

A hoisting cable 22' is connected in any suitable manner to the crossstrut 19 of the bail structure 16, whereby the bucket may be raised andlowered in the operation of the hoist. f

ward the bucket when the same is in the leading position. l Vithm thechute 24 there -is located a depending baflle plate 25, pref: erablyweighted, as at 26, and hinged as at 27, 50 a portion of the chute 24.

The bafie 25, being weighted and pivoted as above described, serves toretard or thin out the flow of the material through the chute extendinto the same. the cut out portion the bucket is provided with areinforcing plate 84, which extends 24, while at the same timepermitting the larger lumps to pass, thus preventing choking-of theoutlet. The bafile- 25 also serves to prevent ricocheting ofpieces ofthe materialout ofv the chute when the material is being fed rapidly andin a thin stream through the hopper without having previouslyaccumulated therein.

, Upon the under side of the chute 24 there is mounted a transverse.shaft, 29, and by means of this'shaft the side frames of the gatestructure are journaledr The gate proper comprises a sector plate31,secured at its edges to the frames 30.

The frames 30 also carry an auxiliary chute 32, which in the loadingposition. extends forwardly from the lower edge of the bottom plate ofthe chute, to carry the material passing from the chute intothe bucket.vThe front plate of the bucket 10 is cut out as at 33, to permit theauxiliary chute 32- to Immediately below across the inside of thebucket..-

Each of the side frames 30 of the gate structure is provided with arearwardly extending arm 35.

bar 36. The ends of the bar 36 extend beyond the arms 35, wherebycounter-weights 37 of suitable mass may-be mounted thereon.

The massof the counterweights 37 is such that the gate structurenormally tends to move to the closedposition about the" axis provided bythe shaft 29. e

Mounted upon theunder surface of the The arms are connected :at theirfree ends by means of a tranverse 39, in which a rod 40 is slidablymounted.

engage the bar 36 which is carried at the ends of thearms' 35 of thegate structure,

serving to retain the gate structure normally in the open positionwhilethe bucket is being loaded. 7

, The'roller 42 is impelled to itsoperative position by means of a coilspring 45, which is mounted upon the rod 40. The coilspring 43 bears atone end against a portion of the bracket 39, and at its other endagainst the enlargedpo rtion 41 of the rod 40. Upon the lower end of therod 40 there are mounted Y lock nuts 44.

The hopper 23 is provided-at its bottom .withan inclined chute 24, whichextends to- It should here be noted that the tension of in the openposition, but'on the other hand,

said roller may be' depressed whenever the gate structure is impelled toor from the open position, to allow the bar 36 to pass behind the sameand be there retained.

v The bracket39 also serves as a means for supporting a pin 45, uponwhich aebel'l crank lever 46 is pivotally mounted. Interposed betweenthe lock nuts 44 and'the lower end of the bracket 39- is a trunnioned.collar. 47,

which is slidablymountedon the rod40, and is engaged by one end ofthebell crank lever .46., The other arm of the bell crank lever '46 ispivotally connected, as at .48, to one end of -fa connecting rod 49. Theother end of the connecting, rod 49 is pivotally connected, as

*at 50, to a bracket member 51, which iscarried by a cross bar 52 of theweight determining device. I

of a pair of levers 53f The levers 53 are journaled by means of atransverselyextencb ing shaftr54. The shaft 54 is supported by means ofbrackets 55, which are in turn supported by means of rigid transversebeams:

56. The front ends of the levers 53 support a transversely extendingshaft 57, upon which a pair of rollers 58 is mounted.

- The bucket 10is provided on its front wall with a pair of shoes 59,which are so positioned as to engage and bear against the rollthe bucketis in the loadingpoers 58 when sltion.

necting rod 49 is attached, also has pivotally The bracket member 51, towhich the con- The cross bar 52 is carriedat the rear ends 9 connectedtherewith,1as :at 60, one end of a fixed bracket member. 65. Y

' Upon the freeendof theflever 63 counterweights 66 are adjustablymounted. The

free end of the lever 63 normally rests upon a a bumping block 67, whichserves to limit the downward movement ofthe free end of said lever, saidblock beingsupported by means "-of brackets 68 secured to the beams 56.

Uponthe shaft 29,-by'means of which the gate structure is pivoted, thereis also piv- -otally mounted a pair of arms 7 0, which extend along thesides of the frames 30 ofthe gate structure, and which are connected at'10 their free ends by means of a transversely extending shaft 71. V 7

Upon the shaft 71' there is mounted a pair of rollers 72,whichareadapted to be en- 'gaged by the shoes 59 which are carried bythe bucket 10. Upon the side frames of "the gate structure there areprovided projectinglugs 73, upon which the arms 70 normally rest. I i VOn each sideof the chute 24 thereis pro- -vided a device for arrestingand limiting the movement of the gate structure when the same reachesthe closed position. Each of these devices comprises a spring plate 7 5,one end of which is bolted, as at 76,130 the gg sideplates of the chute24, and the other end of which extends outwardly therefrom,

' sition. The portion 77 of the plate 7 5 which J5 extends outwardly atright angles has secured thereto one arm of an an le bracket 78. Theother arm of the angle bracket 7 8 engages a bolt 7 9, upon which a coilspring 80 is mounted, the coil spring being interposed be m tween theangle'bracket 78 and the side plate of the chute 24. The coil spring 80tends to hold the springplate 75 in its normal position to engagefrictionally the side frames 30 of the gate structure. 'Bythe foregoingar- 6 rangement, the agate structure will'be held in the closedposition, and accidental opene ing of the gate when the bucket is awayfrom I the loading position will be prevented. Nuts 81 are provided onthe bolt 79, servinn to Jermit ad'ustment of the outwardexis P l tensionof the plate 75, whereby the frictional engagement thereof with the sideframes 30 of the gate structure may beadjusted- By properly adjustingthe nuts 81- on the bolt 79. the arrangement will be such that as vthegate structure approaches its closed positiongthesideframes 30thereof Wlll. lirst'frictionally engage the spring plates 75, wherebytliemomentum of the gate structure will be decreased and thesh'ockminimiz'ed when the side frames finally impinge againstthe pfor-"tions 77 of the plate member 7 5, which are a bent. outwardly at rightangles to form a'stop;

A control switch may-be fixedlymounted 05 in connection' with theweight. determining device, this switch havinga depending operatinglever 91, the lower end of which carbe engagedby a finger 93 which maybesecured to the connecting rod 61, or: any other suitable moving part ofthe weight determining device, whereby the" control switch 90 may beautomatically manipulated whenever the partswith which the connectingrod 61 is connected are caused to be actuated in the manner to behereinafter more fully explained. I V i For the proper relativeadjustment of the several parts, the connecting rod 49' may be providedwith an adjusting turnbuckle 95, and likewise the connecting rod 61 mayhave interposed-therein an adjusting turnbuckle 9e Theoperation of thedevicemay now be eX- plained. The bucket 10 being in the position shownin Figs. 1 and 2 of-the drawings, and V the gate being in the openposition also therev in shown, the material willfflow' from the hopper23 through the chute 24:. The material thus passing through the chute24: will be retarded by the weighted and pivoted baffie 25, so that thenormal stream of the maries a roller 92.- The roller 92 is adapted to.

terial will be defined by the lower edge of v the baffle 25, while atthe same time any large lumps which may be in the material will bepermitted to pass; and also, by means of the baffle 25, pieces of thematerial will be prevented fromricocheting out of the chute into the pitof the hoist, as frequently occurs when the hopper is empty and thestreamof material is relatively thin and is passing rapidly through thehopperand chute.

It has been found in practice that, by the provision of the baffiearranged as herein described, substantial uniformity of the load},- in'the. bucketis' obtained, notwithstanding w variations inthe amount ofmaterial which may accu1nulate inthehopper during the periods when thebucket .is-away from the loadr ing' position.

When a predeterminedweight of the ma terial has passed into the bucket,the shoes 59 which bear against therollers 58 will cause the otherendsof the levers 53'to be raised.

This motion will be transmitted by means of" the cross bar 52, throughthe connecting rod 49 to thebell crank lever i6. M Q g lVhe'n the bellcranklever 4:6 isthus actuated, the rod 40 will be depressedv againstthetension of the spring 43, whereupon the roller 42 will be retractedfrom its engage- 1 merit with the bar 36.: The gate structure Wlll nowbe free, whereupon the counterweights 3'? will cause the gate to bemoved about the axis provided by theshaft 29, and position the gate willbe swung to the closed shown in Fig. 5 ofthe drawings. J As theauxiliary chute 32 forms component part of the gate structure, the samewill be moved out of the path-of travel of the the gate is moved to theclosed is. in the closed position;

It willbe noted that when the gate is swung tov the closed position, therollers 72, which are mounted upon theshaft Y1, which in turn is carriedby tlle arms 70, will be brought to such position as to be in the'pathof the shoes 59 which are carried by the bucket. p

However, asthe arms 7O merely .rest upon the projecting *lugs 73, whichextends from the side frames 30 of the gate structure,

said rollers may be swung sufiiciently about the axis provided by theshaft 29. so as not to interfere with the upward travel of the bucket,and-it will be seen-that after the shoes 59 have passed to a pointjtoclear the rollers, the arms 70 will then return'by gravity to rest againupon the lugs 73,- so that the rollers will be in the proper position tobe encountered by the shoes upon the return movement of the bucket.

' After the bucket has discharged its load,

in the customary manner, at the top of the hoist, and returns foranother load, the shoes 59,in the downward movement of saidbucket, willencounter the rollers 72, 'whereupon, by reason of the arms 7 bearingagainst the lugs 73 of the-Side iramesBO of the gate structure, the gatestructure will be pushed by the bucket to the open position,'*as shownin Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings. The action above describedtakesplace,'of course, upon each movement of the bucket to and from theloading position. j

It will be seen that the mechanism above described for causing the gatetobe closed will be brought into action when a predetermined weight ofthe material has been delivered to the bucket, the amount of said weightbeing determined by the mass and position of the weightsfiti, whicharcadjustably mounted upon the free end of the lever 63, whicluashereinbeforedescribed, is.

connected by means oftheconnecting rod 61 to the structure associatedwith the levers 53'.

It will also be seen that when the levers. 53 are actuatedas'abovedescmbed, the finger the present application isnot'pa'rticularlyf concerned, .thebucketmay be automatically 'nated.

.started uponits upward travelafter the same has received its'properload.

It may here be notedthat, should the means for releasing the gate to,permit the same 7 to. swing to its closedaposition fail'to operate fromany cause prior ito'the starting of? the bucket upon its upward travehnoparticular harm will be'do'ne, asthe horizontal edge of the cutoutportion 33v of the bucket will engagethe auxiliary, chute .32 of thegate, structure, whereupon the gate willbe pulled i by the bucket to theclosed position; :When

the action takesplace in this manner, the

bar 36 will be forcedover the roller 42,;causing the rod 40 to beretracted sufliciently l i against the tension of the spring 43, topermit the bar-36 to pass and the. gate structure thus freed. 7 1 j.;c-' 1 Inffact, in some instances, the connecting rod 4e9 and the bellcrank lever 46 may be,. 5

omitted entirely, andthe closing of the gate 1 effected by theengagementof the bucket with the auxiliary chute 3 2$ Whenthe gateis closed bymeans ofthe bucket, as above described, it will be understoodthatafter'thegtt) bar 36 has been released from engagement withtheroller 42, the counterweightsfi? will function inthe usual, manner tobring the gate structure to-"thevfully closed position, so that thepartswillbe in the proper position tobeagain actuated uponthe return ofthebucket. it will be seen that there is thus provided a novel, simple,and eiiicient' mechanism for loading the bucket from the hopper of askip goo hoist structure, which-is so constructed and arranged that theflow of material from the hopper will be automatically stopped-when apredetermined weight of the material has been delivered to the bucket,inwhichlikeli- 5, 5 hood of spilling of the material at the bottom ofthehoist will be ininimized',-in whichflthe 'controlswitch for-theactuation of the bucket may. be actuated, when the'bucket is loaded,

'in which positive closingof the gate will be insured whenever, the;bucket "starts on its upward travel from its loading position, and inwhich possibility of damage through improper operation of theibucketwill be elimixlclaim: r

V hoist, meansfor loading the bucket comprising. a chute; -a gatestructure "movably mounted-with respectto said chute I and having aportion adapted to 'extendggro across the end' thereof;'counterweightsadapted to impel the f gate. "structure to the closed position; meansfor impelling the gate structure to the open position comprising shoescarried by the bucket, and "a deviceci adapted to be engaged bysaidshoes as" the bucket descends to the loading position, said deviceengaging a portion of the gate structure and normally moving in unisonthere with :but adapted to be pushed by the. shoesziisition.

2. In a skip hoist, means for loading the bucket comprising a chute; agate structure 7 movably mounted with respect to said chute and having aportion adapted to extend across the end thereof; counterweights adaptedto impel the gate structure to the closed position; means for impellingthe gate structure to the open position compris ing shoes carried by thebucket, and a device adapted to be engaged by said shoesas the bucketdescends to the loading position, said device engaging a portion of'thegate structure and normally moving in unison therewith but adapted to bepushed by the shoes out of the path of travel thereof when the bucketascends after the gate has moved toward or to the closed position; and alatch member independent of the means for impelling the gate structureto the open position, said latch member being adapted to retain the gatestructure in the open position, i

and said latch member being retractable by a portion of the gatestructure.

3. In a skip hoist, means for loading the bucket comprising a chute; agate structure movably mounted with respect to said chute and having aportion adapted to extend across the end thereof; counterweights adaptedto impel the gate structure to the closed position: means for impellingthe gate structure to the open position comprising shoes carried by thebucket, and a device adapted to be engaged by said shoes as the bucketdescends to the loading position, said device engaging a portion of thegate structure and normally moving in unison therewith but adapted to bepushed by theshoes out of the path of travel thereof when the bucketascends after the gatehas moved toward or to the closed position; and a.latch member independent ofthe means for impelling the gate structure tothe open position, said latch member engaging a portion of the gatestructure when the gate is in the open position, said latch member beingadapted normally to retain the gate in the open position but beingretractable by a per-- tion of the gate structure when the gatestructure is impelled in either direction.

4. In a skip hoist, means for loading the bucket comprising a chute; agate structure movably mountedwith respect to said chute carried by thebucket, and a device adapted to be engaged by said shoes'as the bucketdescends to the loading position, said device engaging a portion of thegate structure and normally moving in unison therewith but adapted to bepushed by the'shoes out of the pathof travel thereof when the bucketascends after the gate has moved toward or to the closed position; alatch member independent of the means for impelling the gate structureto the open position, said latch member engaging a portion of the gatestructure when the gate is in the open position, said latch member beingadapted to retain the gate in the open position but being retractable bya portion of the gate structure when the gate structure is impelled ineither and having a portion adapted to extend across the end thereof;counterweights adapted to impel the gate structure to the closedposition: means for impelling the gate struc-f ture to the open positioncomprising shoes

